Incorporating Frame Action into Seismic Design of Gusset Plates
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 3
Abstract
Gusset plates connect the brace and frame in concentrically braced frames (CBFs). Failure at the interface of gusset plates with the beam or column will result in an inability to achieve energy dissipation through brace buckling and yielding of the brace in tension and failure of the connection before the brace. Traditional design methods for the gusset plate beam or column interfaces in CBFs often consider only forces from brace action. Although studies have shown that forces from frame action can be significant, the complex stress distribution in the gusset plate makes it difficult to effectively evaluate their effects. Neglecting or inaccurately evaluating the frame action may result in unreasonable estimation of the forces in gusset plates, leading to failure at the interface connections. In this paper, the brace action and the frame action forces on gusset plates are systematically explored through an experimental test of CBFs. The proposed design method combines two models for brace action and frame action. Finally, the proposed design method is validated against results from CBF experiments. The proposed design method estimates the magnitude and orientation of the gusset plate interface forces with different configurations of CBFs well.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Project No. 2017YFC0703605) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51678106).
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 3 • March 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 26, 2020
Accepted: Oct 30, 2020
Published online: Jan 7, 2021
Published in print: Mar 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jun 7, 2021
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